Just Saying | Body odour and bad breath: is it harassment in the workplace?
Yonden Lhatoo is intrigued by the latest trend in Japan to tackle a universal problem in the workplace that most of us are too polite to raise a stink over
Can you call it harassment when you have to put up with someone’s particularly bad breath or body odour?
Trust the Japanese to not only make “smell harassment” part of their lexicon, but also to conduct seminars for companies seeking to reduce olfactory assaults in the workplace without hurting the feelings of staff concerned.
Mandom, Japan’s biggest manufacturer of men’s personal-care products, was in the news this week for holding seminars on “smell care” or “odour etiquette” – polite classes on how not to asphyxiate your colleagues. The aim is to help people become more aware of the scents they produce and encourage them to improve personal hygiene, thereby reducing the distress they cause to others.
Companies have already started sending their staff to these seminars, and some are taking it a step further with guidelines for employees to brush their teeth after meals, lay off pungent food during office hours, and generally avoid inflicting unpleasant smells on their colleagues.
Women, in particular, are becoming increasingly “sensitive to the smells of men”, a Mandom spokesman was quoted as stating.
While all this may seem bizarre or comical to many, it resonates in Japan with its much maligned demographic of middle-aged or older “salarymen” who are often portrayed as a bunch of smelly, chain-smoking, beer-guzzling sad sacks.